Automatic fuze setting apparatus



May 21, 1935. A. GIETMANN AUTOMATIC FUZE SETTING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 5,1934 Patented May 2l, i935 UNITED STATES AUTOMATIC roza SETTINGAPPARATUS Anton Gietmann, Dusseldorf, Germaliylassignor to RheinischeMetallwaarenund Maschinenfabrik, Dusseldorf-Derendorf, Germanyracorporation of Germany Appelation January 5, 1934, seriai'NmvosAis inGermany June 26, 1931 9 Claims.

The invention relates to automatic fuze setting apparatus, in which thefuze timing settings are transmitted by sequence indicating device, andto which by means oi a further signal device vvhich is connected withthe signal device of the gun .giving the nre orders, the order forremoving ythe projectile from the automatic fuze setting apparatus andfor inserting itinto the gun is given.

In the automatic fuze setting apparatus a1- ready known the boltingdevice which prevents the Vremoval of theprojectile from the setting`socket is influenced Vonly by partsof the auto- `matic fuze settingapparatus itself, that is the 16 bolting device is disengaged as soonlas-after a projectile has been inserted in the fuze setting socket-thefuze vsetting member which is turned when the fuze is being set, hascarried out two revolutions. Thus the order transmitting devices 2Q donot control thebolting device.

,f In automatic fuze setting apparatus of this type vmistakes are liableto occur, particularly -When fire is directed at rapidly moving andturning 4targets which frequently change their course (as for instanceair craft).

the target changes its course during the time fire orders are beinggiven, it may be useless to fire Ain accordance with an order received.In .such a case before a shot is fired in accordance 30 with orders justgiven, new firing orders may be transmitted and when the course of thetarget changes repeatedly, it may be necessary to change the rire ordersseveral times in succession before a shot is actually red.

Now, if a projectile is removed from the automatic fuze settingapparatus as soon as the fuze has been correctly set in accordance Withthe rst setting order and before orders have been given for lateraltered fuze settings and before the order to fire is given, the changedfuze settings can not be given, to the projectile prematurely removedfrom the automatic fuze setting apparatus, and the projectile is redwith the previously ordered, but now incorrect, time setting.

Another source of error may occur when the projectile is not removedfrom the automatic fuze setting apparatus until the firing order hasbeen given, for instance if the gunner adjusting the sequence indicatorof the transmitter and the receiver does not immediately obey a newlytransmitted command, and the firing order is given before the sequenceindicator has been adjusted to agree with the receiver, then, at lthemoment when the projectile is removed from the automatic fuze settingapparatus, the fuze setting member is not correctly adjusted.

In the automatic fuze setting' apparatus according to the inventionthere are provided means, controlled bythe re order signal device, `5which actuate the locking device which bolts the vprojectilewin theapparatus when the signal forming thesunis given,

Further, in the fuze setting apparatus accord- `ing tothe inventionmeans are provided for mak- 10 ing theactuationoi' the said lockingdevice de- 1pnient-rqncth;correct adjusting@ 0f, the., 'erquema-indicar. te thaise@ 'Setting ,Orestes ,by the transmittersothat-:unless this adjustment is Acorrectly* made the projectile remains(bolted in the apparatus: Even. if U1? .adjustment has been correctlyvmade theprojectiledremains bolted in the receiver militie 111i@Order-is given i The pmpehyins drewinsiillutrateadiagrammatioallyatypicalzembpdiment of the in- Vil'gn- I. i; I n Thetransmissionuofprderslto lthe automatic fuze setting apparatus iseffectedbyhadsequence ndagdYie,haV.mS a lamp Tecver ,In thelampllreceiverp, there .are arranged, for, ex- 25 ample, pnthreconcentricI circles, thirty electriiendescsntlamps 221 thembeing n neach Lconcentric. (circled A ten lamps corresponding to 4the referencefigures `ILS. The illuminating lamps of the inner circle may, forinstancagde- ,30 note the number of units, the illuminating lamps of themiddle circlethe number of tens, and the 4illuin mating lamps of theouter circuit the number ofthe hundreds of a three-place number whichrepresents the particular fune-setting ordered.

The transmitter o consists of a disc in which thirty insulated contactsor are inserted and arranged in the samemanneras the lamps of thereceiver. Each lamp p1 of the receiver p is connected with the similarlyarranged contact o1 of the transmitter o by an electric conductor s.Corresponding to the thirty lamps p1 and the thirty contacts 01 thereare thirty Wires s available, only three of which, however, are shown inthe diagram.

The source 'of electric current q which feeds the sequence indicatingdevice with vcurrent is connected by a wire q1, to the lamp holder ofthe receiver p and by awire q2 to the three slid- 50 ing contacts 1',r1, r2 of the transmitter o. Of the sliding contacts of 'thetransmitter, the rst slides on the contacts of the inner contactcircuit, the second on the contacts of the middle contact circuit andthe third on the contacts of the outer contact circuit. If the slidingcontacts of the transmitter are brought into contact with any threecontacts, the correspond ingly arranged lamps of the receiver areilluminated.

In the example shown in the drawing the fuze setting order is denoted bythe number 684.

Over the lamps of the receiver there swing three sequence indicators i,i1, i2 which are pivotally mounted at the common central point of theconcentric circles on which the lamps are arranged. These sequenceindicators are connected with the fuze setting members, not shown in thedrawing, in such a manner that when the indicators cover the lampsilluminated at the time the fuze setting members are correctly adjustedaccording to the command.

The order for iiring the gun is given by means of the electric bell u onthe gun, which bell is energized from the source of current u1, itscircuit being closed by means of the switch u2. The projectile a isbolted by means of the bolt b in the setting socket of the automaticfuze setting apparatus. The bolt, which is provided with an inclinedsurface b1 can be moved Vfrom its locking position to release theprojectile, for example by a double-lever c provided withvacorrespondingly inclined surface c1, and is moved by the armature of thebolting magnets d. The bolting magnet is disposed in the circuit of asource of current e. In this circuit there are disposed in series fourinterrupter switches f, m, m1, m2 which switches are acted 'in bysprings, not shown in the drawing, n such a manner that each ofthemopens the circuit and are actuated to close the circuit whenelectromagnets f1, Z, l1, l2 are excited.

The magnet f1 of the interrupter f is connected to the circuit ofthe reorder bell u and is excited as soon as the latter lis energized.

The other electromagnets Z, Z1 and Z2 are controlled by a control switchk1 which, similarly to the transmitter o, consists of a disc with thirtyinsulated contacts k1 arranged in the-same lway as the lamps p1 of thereceiver p and the fixed contacts o1 of the transmitter o. Over the con-'tacts k1 of the control switch lc there slide three `counter-contactsn, n1, n2 which are arranged -in the same way as the movable contacts ofthe transmitter 0.

These counter-contacts n, m, n2 are positively connected with thesequence indicators i, i1, i2 by gear wheels I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 'l andare moved synchronously therewith by the crank y. The indicator i isconnected with the indicator i1 by means of a transmission 1:10 and withthe indicator i2 by means of a transmission 1:100. In the same mannerthe counter-contacts n, n1, 'n2 are interconnected.

From each of the electric wires s there branches oi a wire t to theparticular contact k1 of the control switch lc which is arranged insimilar disposition as the corresponding lamp on the receiver p and thecorresponding contact o1 on the transmitter o.

The counter contacts n, nl, n2 which are moved synchronously with thesequence indicators i, i1, i2 are connected by way of brush ringcontacts and wires o, v1, 'v2 to the electromagnets Z, Z1, Z2, the otherterminals of which are connected by the wires w, w1, w2 and the wires :cto the wire q1 and the source of current q.

source of current q which are associated with the lamps of the receiverswitched in, in each particular case by the transmitter o, and thecounter contacts n, n1, n2 of the control switch k come into contactwith these contacts connected with one pole of the source of currentonly when the sequence indicators i, i1, iz with which the countercontacts n, m, n2 are moved synchronously to register with the lampswitched on at the time. The electromagnets Z, l1, lz are thus excitedand the interrupters m, m1, m2 closed only when the sequence indicatorsi, i1, i2 register with the lamps switched on at the time. As, moreover,as explained above, the electromagnet f1 is excited only when the iireorder bell u is energized, it will be seen that all the interrupterswitches f, m, m1 and m2 located in the circuit of the unbolting magnetd are closed only when, at the same time, the sequence indicatorsregister with the particular lamps of the receiver illuminated at thetime and the re order bell is energized.

I claim:-

l. An automatic fuze setting apparatus for projectiles comprising a lockadapted to engage and retain the projectile in the apparatus while thefuze is being set, a device for operating the lock, a iire ordertransmitting system, and means rendered effective on transmission of aiire order in said system for causing said device to operate the lock torelease the projectile.

2.' Anautomatic fuze' setting apparatus for vprojectiles comprising alockadapted to engage and retain theprojectile in the apparatus whilethe fuzeis being set, a device for operatingthe lock, a system forsignalling fuze setting sequences comprising a receiver and atransmitter, and means rendered effective only when the received signalsagree with the transmitted signals to operate the lock to release theprojectile. '-7

3. An automatic fuze setting apparatus for projectiles comprising a lockadapted to engage and retain the projectile in the apparatus while -thefuze is being set, a device for operating'the lock, a ire ordertransmitting system, a system for signalling fuze setting sequencescomprising a receiver and a transmitter, and means rendered effective tooperate the lock to release the projectile only on transmission of afire order when the received signals agree with the transmitted signals.

4. Apparatus according to claim 2, in which the receiver comprisessequence indicating means in accordance with the position of which thefuze setting is determined and in which the lock is operated to releasethe projectile only when the sequence indicating means are in agreementwith the transmitted signals.

5. An automatic fuze setting apparatus for projectiles comprising a lockadapted to engage and retain the projectile in the apparatus while thefuze is being set, an electromagnet, a device operated by theelectromagnet for operating the lock to release the projectile, anelectrical control circuit for the electromagnet, a plurality ofswitches disposed in series in said circuit, a system for signallingfuze setting sequences, and means for operating the switches under thecontrol of the signalling system.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5 including a re order signal device andin which the switches in the lock control circuit include a switch underthe control of the fire order signal device.

'7. An automatic fuze setting apparatus for projectiles comprising alock adapted to engage ilo and retain the projectile in the apparatuswhile the fuze is being set, an electromagnet for operating the lock torelease the projectile, an electrical control circuit for theelectromagnet, a signalling system comprising a transmitter of fuzesetting sequences and a receiver in whichthe received sequencesdetermine the fuze settings, said transmitter and receiver beingelectrically connected with each other, a plurality of switches inseries in said electrical control circuit and each switch having anelectromagnet for operating the same, a common source of current for theswitch electromagnet and the signalling system, and means effective uponagreement between the transmitted and the received sequences forenabling said source to energize the electromagnets of the seriesswitches with resulting release of a projectile with its fuzecorrespondingly set.

8, An automatic fuze setting apparatus for projectiles comprising a lockadapted to engage and retain the projectile in the apparatus while thefuze is being set; an electromagnet for operating the lock to releasethe projectile; an electrical control circuit for the electromagnet; asystem for electrically signalling fuze setting sequences comprising atransmitter switch having a plurality of arms movable over contact banksto select settings to be transmitted, a receiver with means for visuallyregistering the received sequences which determine the fuze settings,and a plurality of indicators corresponding to the arms of thetransmitter switch movable to posi-` tions in accordance with thevisually registered sequences; a control switch with movable arms andcontact banks corresponding to those of the transmitter switch, saidarms being positively coupled to the indicators of the receiver; circuitconnections between said visual registering means and both said banks ofcontacts; a plurality of switches in series in the said electricalcontrol circuit and each switch having an electromagnet for operatingthe same; a common source of current for the series switchelectromagnets and the circuit connections of the signalling sys` tern;and connections branching from said circuit connections to the arms ofthe control switch and thence to the electromagnets of the seriesswitches and the source of current.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8 including a re order control circuitand an additional series switch in the electrical control circuit withits operating electromagnet arranged in the circuit of the fire ordercontrol switch.

ANTON GIETMANN.

